By Annabelle Gauberti, Solicitor

With few industries performing better than the €185bn luxury goods sector, a rising number of lawyers and law graduates are electing it as their business development focus.

The luxury industry is a difficult niche market to break into for lawyers. They therefore have to deploy their charm as well as their brains to be recognised by luxury goods companies, designers, retailers, importers, distributors, artists and auction houses as efficient trusted advisors. “The members of Sotheby’s in-house legal team, based in New York, London and Paris, have been selected both for their technical background (in either commercial or tax law) and their ability to add value by proactively and courteously dealing with a range of legal issues raised by either Sotheby’s business people (such as the art and auctioneers) or Sotheby’s high net worth clients” says Tom Christopherson, Sotheby’s European General Counsel. Read More

By Suzanne Kingston, Partner, Withers

On 22 February 2012 a new arbitration scheme was launched. The IFLA (Institute of Family Law Arbitrators) Scheme is the result of a collaboration between resolution, the Family Law Bar Association (FLBA), the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and the Centre for Child and Family Law Reform (CCFLR) the whole issue of family law arbitration has been under consideration for about the last decade and during that time a number of family lawyers, arbitrators and judges have worked tirelessly to assist in the formulation of the scheme and its rules. Read More